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dune-ii States @sind *I @Wina T. K. REED, or EAST BRIDGEWATER, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENT, To GORDON MCKAY, TRUSTEE OF THE MGKAY SEWING-MACHINE ASSOCIATION, OE BOSTON,

MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 102,155, dated Apr/ll 19, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINE FOR UNITING BOOT AND SHOE-SOLES TO TIS-IIE!4 'UPPERS The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whomtt may concern y Be it known that I, T. K. REED, of East Bridgewater, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Uniting the Soles and Uppers of Boots and v Shoes; and do hereby declare that the following,

taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is' a description of my invention suiiicieut to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

In that part ofthe manufacture of boots and shoes which relates to uniting the soles and Vamps by mechanism operating autou'latically to insert the fasteningdevices,various means have been devised and employed for automatically proportiouing the length of the'fasteuiugs, to and in accordance with the varying thickness, from toe to heel, ot' the parts united, the boot orshoe being mounted upon a suitable supporting mechanismhby which mechanism it. is presented to the action of the mechanism, which', in connection with such support, effects the union ofthe So far asI know, the first device that existed for thus automatically operating to vary the length of the fastening material, in accordance with the vary- Aing thickness of the parts being united, is shown in the United States Patent granted to Gordon McKay `andl R. H. Mathies, (No. 36,163, datedAugust 12,-

l`862, machine 'for sewing soles to boots and sh0es,) in which machine the shoe is supported upon the top of au inclined salient arm called a ,horn, the inner surface of the'sole resting directly upon the horizontal top of this arm or work-supporting bed, and the innersole, upper, and outer sole, being callipered between-the presser-foot, the top of the bed .or horn remaining-in the same horizontal plane, and the presser-foot rising or falling in accordance with the thickness of the parts griped between it and the horn, and, by this rise or fall, controlling, through an intervening mechanism, the length of thread drawn from the spool to form the stitch.

Another device for controlling the length of the fastening, in accordance with the thickness of the main sole andthe parts united thereto, is shown in the United States Letters Patent No. 76,150, granted March 3l, 1863, to Lyman R. Blake and Asa- S. Libby, for machine for nailing boots and shoes.

In such machine a work-supporting horn is used, and a feeding mechanism similar in many respects'to that shown in the McKay &; Mathias patent;` and in the Blake St Libby machine, as in the McKay ht Mathies machine, the work is caliperedbetween the top of the horn and the presser-foot, butthe top of the ,Blake St Lihbyfliorn constitutes au anvil, against which the nail is driventh'rough the shoe, (as

\ described in Ythe specication of the Blake St Libby Vof the sole, and which, by the position of said foot orinstrument, determines automatically the length toV which the nails or pins shall be cut, so that the nails or plus shall in all and variable thicknesses, be just long enough to reach through the stock, with a little extra length for clinching or heading, if desirable, the Blake St Libby claim being the combination with the presser-foot of mechanism which operates, by reason of any change in height at which the presser-foot rests on the stock, to automatically cut nailsl or pins from material supplied for Athat purpose, to a length proportioned to thethickuess ot' the work at the place where the presserfootoper Another device for automatically determining Vthe length of each nail, iu accordance with the thickness of the parts to be united thereby, is shown in the 'United States Patent No. 87,473, granted to J. B.

Crosby, March 2, 1869, for an improved nailing or pegging-inachine.

ln the Crosby patent, the length of each nail cut from the wire-likefmaterial is' determined by the thickness of the parts to be united thereby, through the agency of the work-supporting arm or horn, the Work being calipered between the feed and presser foot mechanism, and the horn being made capable ot' vertical movement, through which movement the feed of the nail-forming wire is so regulated, (by connections between the horn and the wire-feeding Inechanism,) that a lengthof wire equal to the thickness to be united is presentedto the cutters for each nail to be driven. p

These three devices for' automatically determining the length of the fastening material, constitute (in principle) all of the means known to me up to the date of my invention, the McKay St Mathics solcsewing machine, drawing-from the spool the particular length required for forming each successive stitch,A (such length, of course, varying as the thickness of the parts vary,) the Blake 82; Libby nailing-machine automatically varying the length of the wire-like Inaaerial `fed' to the action of the cutters by the vertical movement of the presser-foot, (produced by the variation in the thickness of the parts'to be uuited,)and the Crosby machine, varying the length of wire-like' material fed to the action ot' thc cutters, (in' accordance with the varying thickness of the sole,) through the vertical movements of thehoru or work-support--- ing, bed.

(Besides these inventions there is also shown, in the United States Patent Nos. 86,054 and 86,590, means for cutting off the inwardly-protruding end of each nail, after the same has been driven into a boot or shoe, the result obtained being the same as in the above-mentioned inventions, but attained only with the waste of nail-forming material.)

In each of the rst three patents described,`the parts united are caliper-ed between the feed and presser-foot mechanism and the work-supporting sur-. face, and, whiletbe ultimate object of' my invention is the same, namely, Ito determine the length of' each fastening, in accordance with the thickness of the parts of the shoe vto be united by it, I dispense with mechanism for calipering between the two thicknesses to be united, and thereby avoid the necessity of mounting the shoe upon a work-supporting horn, instead.' of which horn I use a last, mounted upon a jack mechanism, as in ordinary pegging-machines, and,in combination with therv last and jack, I employ a gauge, extending around the last, the top of such gauge being in accurate line with or conforming in curvature to the corner or upper edge of the last.

Upon the top of this guide rests a finger at onel end of a rocker-lever, connected. with the wire-feed mechanism, and, as the upward stress upon the jack holds the surface of the sole up to the feed-foot and nail-tube of the nailing mechanism, and the surface of' the edge of the shoe to be nailed varies in distance above the guide, (iuaccordance with the vary ing thickness of the sole,) it will be obvious that the guiding surface must rise and fall iu accordance therewith, thus imparting vertical movement to the lever, by which movement ofthe lever, change of' feed of the wire or nail-forming material is automatically effected, so as to cause each nail to be cut in accordance with the thickness of .materials to be united thereby.

Broadly stated, my invention consists, therefore, in combining with a shoe-nailing o`r pegging mechanism, (using wire-like fastening material,) and a jack or last-supporting mechanism, a gauge, the surface of which has sole relation to the sole surface of' the last, that, by a suitable connection between the guide surface and thenail-cutting mechanism, the length of the nails successively cnt-may be automatically determined,lin accordance with the varying thickness of the parts .to be united` The drawings represent a machine embodying my invention.

A shows a side elevation ofthe machine.

BA is a plan of the lasted shoe and guiding mechanism. f

C an end View thereof.

D, a section on the line :v x.

a denotes the post;

b, Ythe head;

c, thc jack-standard;

d, the weighted lever that supports such standard, all of which parts may be precisely like the corv responding parts in an ordinary Sargent or Townsend pegging-machine, and the head b may be provided with a shoe-feeding, wire-feeding, andl nail-cutting4 mechanism, similar to those found in other nailingmachines, for which reason they are not particularly shown, and will not be herein described.

e denotes the bottom of the nail-tube, through which the nail is driven into'v the shoe, the sole f being held up to the tube, (by stress of the weight g upon the lever l,) as seen at A;

The shoe t lis drawn over or lasted upon agsuitable last, which is supported by a suitable jack, pivoted to the standards.

To this jack -or shoe-holding frame is fixed the gauge k, which, surrounding the last, has its upper s rface in line with or equidista-nt (vertically) from the upper or sole-surface of the last at the edge thereof, or in the nail-drlvingline.

In the drawings this gauge is made in two parts,l

one on each side of the last, each part having at its Opposite ends two vertical arms, l l or m. an, pivoted to the jack or frame by hinge or jointpins u, so that each gauge can be swung up near to or against the shoe, as seen in the drawings, or away from the shoe, as seen Vby the dotted lines at (i, to facilitate the application and removal ofthe last.

The wire-feed wheel-shaft is shown at o.

Qn this shaft is a ratchet, p, with which engages a reciprocating feed-pawl, q, actuated bv any suitable mechanism.

On the shafto is au eccentric wheel or shell, c, part of whose peripheral edge projects radially beyond the teeth of the ratchet, and the point of the ratchet is lnade wide enough to ext-end over this wheel, this constructionbeiug much the same as shown in the Crosby patent, to which rcfiirenee has been made.

On the under side of the wheel are gear-.teeth s,

into which mesh teeth t,ou a lever, u, fubrnmed at z,

as seen at A.

This lever is pressedl down by a suitable spring, w, and from its front end projects a linger, x.

When this finger is at its lowest position, the edge of the wheel directly under the pawl is below the ratchet-teeth, (the pawl heilig thrown hack.)

As the finger is raised the wheel is turned, and Y brings the project-ing part of the wheel under 'the pawl, or into its .path ot' movement, so that the pawl will be lraised from the ratchet, and in its forward movement will come sooner or later into engagement with the ratchet, accordingly as the finger is raised little or more, thus causing the extent of movement ofthe ratchet, and consequent feed of the wire, to he varied.

Now, while this linger rests upon the top surface of the gauge, as seen at A, the peg-tube foot rests on the top of the sole, (the edge of the sole abutting against aguide, 31,) and, as the distance between the. surface ofthe gauge and the surface of' the` sole dimin ishes or increases, so will the finger rise or fall, and the extent of' feedunovement of the wire b e varied by such rise or fall. y

vInstead' of the finger resting upon the gauge, it' may run in the outer groove formed between the upper and the sole, bearing against the surface of the sole, or a gauge may be fastened in s'uch groove, .and the finger rest against that; and the mechanism may be otherwise modified, but I prefer an arrangement of' mechanism substantially as shown, it being 'simple and effective, the solebeing calipered by the peg-tube foot resting against the outer surface of the outer sole,- and a finger, which, instead of resting directly against the inner surface of the inner sole, rests against au adjunct or gauge outside of' the shoe, the surface of such. gauge conforming in curvature to the surface of the last in thenail-driving line.

By these means, a common pegging-machine jack mechanism may be employed in connection with a nailing-mechanism, with provision for automatically determining the length of the nails cut from the wire, and all the parts of the shoe are kept accurately in position and-iu shape by reasonv of the last remaining in the shoe. until the nailing of the sole is effected. v

I claim, in combination with a machine for nailL ing boots and shoes with nails out from wire, or wire-like material, (theshoe being supportedby a last and -jack-mechanism agauge around the outside o fthe shoe, and mechanism operated by such gauge, toleffect such variation in the extent of wirefeed as is required by the varying thickness of the parts to be united.

Witnesses FRANCIS GoUL-n, J. BnOnosB. 

